Package



July 8 1941. w. c] ABRAMS PACKAGE Filed Sept. 25. 1939 FIIE E F' IIE'I E INVENTOR W/W/Jnj '6'. Abrams avg ATTORNEYS Patented July 8, 1941 UNITED "STATES "PATENT OFFICE PACKAGE William C. Abrams, New York, N. Y.

Application 1 Claim.

This invention relates to packages, and has for one of its objects, an improved package formed from flexible, sheet material, and provided with improved means for opening the package by the hands of a person, and without resort. to auxiliary implements, and without resort to material embodied in the package in addition-to I the material of the package itself such as.

twine, etc. 7

Another object of the invention is an improvedpackage formed from flexible, moisture resistant, transparent, heat fusible material fused together along connecting margins for closing the package and sealing the contents therein against ingress of egress of moisture thereto or therefrom, at

least one of which margins is formed to facilitate tearing the package for opening the same.

Astill further object of the' invention is an I improved sealed package formed of flexible sheet the top opened by tearing along the slit formed in the upper edge of the package. 7

Fig. 4 is an elevational view of another package incorporating my invention.

Figs. 5, 6, respectively, show still other forms of packages incorporating my invention, and Fig. 7 shows a triangular shaped package incorporating the invention.

Fig. 8 shows a package with a at one corner.

Briefly described, the material I have found suitable for use in forming packages is transparent sheet material composed partly or entirely of a rubber derivative, or chlorinated rubber, such as is sold under the trade nameof Pliofilm," and which material is tough, resistant to moisture and to detrimental action of ordinary acids and other chemical ingredients as are prestriangular tab September 25, 1939, Serial No. 296,436

material over another and running a heated iron over. the margins along the registering edges of the-sheets, a package is readily formed which may be filled with any desired material, such as powder, liquid, paste, cream, catsup, mustard, etc., and thereafter the open side of the package through which the. filling has been accomplished may be sealed by heat and slight pressure, as already described. The resultant package will be air and moisture tight, and is virtually a container in which the enclosed material is inaccessible, except by tearing the sheet of the container. The bonded or sealed edges being, as it were, vulcanized together, there is no chance of leakage through attack by the chemical ingredients of the contents or through softening by the moisture of the contents where the latter is in the form of a liquid, paste'orof-semi-liquid consistency.

A package of the above character is'obviously 'cheap to make, substantially non-breakable, the contents are visible for observation and the contents are also absolutely sealed against deterioration and leakage. The walls, however, while readily cut by a knife or relatively sharp instrument, or while readily torn by slight force, once a slitwis made in the material, will otherwise resist any ordinary abuse or effort to effect an opening therein. It is one of the main objects of this invention to form a slit in one of the sealed edges of the package in a manner to enable the user to readily tear the walls of the container for opening the same without difllculty by use of the fingers of the hands only. Another object is to provide a slit that will effect such opening without accidental spiliingor discharge of the contents and without the contents engagcut in cosmetics, condiments, food and the like.

This sheet material readily bonds with similar material, under the influence of relatively low ing the hands of the person handling the package, but which opening will enable the user to readily dispense the contents, as desired.

In detail, in Figs. 1 to 3, I show a rectangular package having sides I, 2 which is closed along three edges, but in which said sides are substantially extended along the fourth edge to form relatively wide overlying margins that are sealed together over the full or partial area of said margins by heat and pressure to form a unitary tab, generally designated 3. This tab 3 is formed with a slit 4 extending from the outermost edge remote from the body of the package, diagonally across the tab from a point adjacent one sideedge thereof toward the opposite side and toward the body of the package, said slit terminating at a point {within the connected sides of the tab relatively close to the body of said package and spaced from the side edge of the package. Thus the tab is partially divided by the slit into two parts 6, l.

In operation, the operator merely grasps part 6 between the thumb and forefinger of one hand, and similarly grasps the part 1 between the thumb and forefinger of the other hand, and upon tearing movement of the hands relatively, the part I is ,torn from the remainder of the package in a downward direction to remove therewith one corner 8 of the body of the package, as illustrated, for dispensing the contents 9 from the opening produced at said corner.

In accomplishing this tearing operation, it is manifest that the body of the package, including holding the portion 6, and that the. opening so produced, will be restricted to the one, upper corner of the package, hence will not be spilled. Also the package may readily be supported on a shelf, table or the like in leaning position with the opening uppermost, and furthermore, the opening is not sufficiently large or irregular to preclude re-sealing by heat and pressure, should the user only desire to use part of the contents of the package.

It is, of course, obvious that the tab 3 may support a label ID or the like, between the extensions of sides I, 2. that form said tab, the said extensions being sealed around the edges of the tab, as indicated in Fig. 4. Also the slit 4 in this showing, may be formed in the label as well as in the tab, or the tab may be initially slit before sealing the extensions together, and the label 4 then be positioned'extending across the slit to hold portions 6, I in planar relationship. The

label, of course, is of ordinary, readily tearable' material, such as ordinary label paper, so as to ofier no appreciable resistance to tearing when portion 1 is removed.

In Fig. 5 I show a container, substantially formed in the same manner as in Figs. 1 to 3, but the tab 3' in this instance is formed with a slit 4' extending from one of the side edges of the tab in a generally horizontal direction thereacross, and terminating in a downwardly extending end as at I l adjacent the corner of the package at the side thereof opposite the edge of the tab from which the slit commences.

Fig. 6 illustrates a tab 3" with a slit 4" extending perpendicularly from the outer edge of the tab opposite the body of the container, which form is particularly suitable where the contents of the package is a unit for removal therefrom as said unit.

Fig. 7 illustrates a triangular package in which the extensions of the sides form an elongated tab I2 along one edge of the package, which tab may be slitted at I3 adjacent either of the two corners opposite side edge of the latter. This tab is notched or slitted inwardly from said opposite side edge, along line I6, to a point adjacent the line of seal I5. Thus a portion I! along the upper edge of the said tab is formed which, upon tearing movement thereof relative to the remaining body of the package, will result in tearing away the corner of the package from the body and providing an opening for dispensing the contents. V

Other forms of slits will suggest themselves to a manufacturer or user, but the preferred form merely forms a dispensing opening, rather than total destruction of the container.

In Figs. 1 to 3 the package is made of two sheets of the sheet material, fused together along all edges, and in Figs. 4, 7 the packages are each made of a single sheet folded on itself with the free edges fused together. In Figs. 5, 6 the package is formed from a tubular length of material fused together at opposite ends of the length.

Various uses of the package will suggest themselves, one being to provide small packages for immediate or substantially immediate use of the contents, such as in hotels or trains where the I management may each day supply a guest with tooth paste, shaving cream, face cream or the like, or the packages readily adapt themselves for use in distrubuting samples of products. The contents, in any event, are even more thoroughly protected against deterioration than in ordinary packages since said contents are thoroughly sealed against deterioration from either excessive moisture or dryness, and no leakage can occu until the package is opened.

Having described my invention I claim: A package comprising opposed sheets of Pliofilm; one of the corresponding opposed margins of said sheets being bonded together and the remaining corresponding edges of said sheets being secured together to form a container portion inwardly of said margins and said free edges; the margins so bonded together being of the package at the ends of said tab, so that similar to that of Fig. 1 except that the tab shown at the upper edge, and generally designated I4, is triangular. The line of seal I5 adjacent the contents 9, which line defines the edge of the tab nearest said contents, extends straight and angularly downwardly across the width of the package from adjacent one of the upper corners at oneof the side edges of the package to the generally rectangular providing a substantially rectangular tab projecting from one side of said container portion; one of two opposite edges of said tab extending along and adjacent said one side, and the other of said two opposite edges being free and spaced outwardly of said one side and substantially parallel therewith; both of the sheets'forming said tab being cut throughfrom said free edge along a line extending generally diagonally across said tab at about an angle of 45 relative to the edge extending along said one side forming a slit in said tab; the inner end of said slit terminating at a point within the con-- fines o,f,said tab adjacent one end of the edge extending along said one side and adjacent said latter edge the direction of said slit being such that a longitudinal continuation of said slit lnter-.

sects said edge thereby providing substantially :sizedseparate tab portions at opposite sides of .said slit;respectivelyadapted to be firmly gripped :betweenthef thumb and forefinger of a hand to facilitate tearing 'saidsheets generally in direction in longitudinal continuation of said slit across a limited part of said portion adjacent --said point and to, at, the same time, completely remove oneof said tab portions from the container portion.

. WILLIAM C. ABRAMS. 

